Newly Formatted Tri-State Fly-By Race

The annual Tri-State regatta fell victim to the coronavirus in 2020. Instead of the traditional Friday night 60+ mile race to St Joseph, Michigan, followed by a 30+ mile race to Michigan City, Indiana on Sunday, and finishing on Labor Day back in Chicago, the race was run in a single night. The renamed "Tri-State Fly-By" was a 78.0 nm triangle around southern Lake Michigan. Starting in Chicago, the race took the fleet eastward across the lake to an Orange Tetrahedron set off New Buffalo, Michigan, then to a Red Flashing Gong off of Burns Harbor, Indiana, and then back to the south side of Chicago. At the 7:00 PM start, the weather was perfect—high 70s on the lake, lake water in the 70s with a west wind at 12 MPH. With a course of 100 degrees, it was a spinnaker run to the first mark. PHRF 1 Class was won by the J/111 MOMENTUS owned by Kevin Saedi and Raman Yousefi. The PHRF Doublehanded Class was a topped by John Kalanik's J/111 PURA VIDA, who also led the overall results. For more Tri-State Fly-By Race information, click here.

Landsail Tyres J-Cup 21st Birthday Celebration

By invitation of Key Yachting, the 2020 Landsail Tyres J-Cup celebrated the 21st birthday of the annual regatta exclusively for J/Boats. Whilst the regatta was somewhat different this year, the spirit of the J/Boats family was as strong as ever. Hosted for the first time by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the regatta was a huge success. 50 J/Boats with over 200 crew enjoyed great racing, plus safe and secure social functions at the RORC Clubhouse in Cowes.

Tony & Sally Mack's McFly retained the J/111 National Championship and was also awarded the J-Cup. Full results at https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=11774

J/Fest Chicago Celebrates Sailing Again

Following Chicago's pandemic guidelines, the Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club was able to host Chicago's first one-design keelboat regatta for just J/Crews - the inaugural J/Fest Chicago. The event took place August 29-30, sailing out of Montrose Harbor, with racing taking place on the waters of Lake Michigan. In the J/111 one-design fleet, it was a match race duel all weekend between the two boats. In the end, it was John Kalanik's PURA VIDA winning over their colleagues on MOMENTUS (Kevin Saedi & Raman Yousefi). For more J/Fest Chicago information, visit https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=13130.

Fast & Furious Stamford Overnight Race

Stamford Yacht Club hosted their popular Overnight Race on the waters of Long Island Sound for a fleet of PHRF offshore teams. It is a fast overnight race, and for the first time, the event featured a large PHRF Doublehanded class. In the "big boat" PHRF A Division, Bill and Jackie Baxter's J/111 FIREBALL took the silver in their class. For more Stamford Overnight Race information, visit https://www.stamfordyc.com/.

Battle at Beaver Island Race Weekend

Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Spring, MI annually hosts their 68.0nm Beaver Island Race Weekend toward the end of summer. This year was different than past races, due to the pandemic guidelines they had to adhere to from the state of Michigan. It was a straightforward weekend regatta, comprising of two legs of 34.0nm each: a round-trip from a start off Harbor Point Light in Little Traverse Bay, out into Lake Michigan, across to Beaver Island, finishing off St. James Light. Stay overnight on anchor or mooring, then race back. On the outbound race to Beaver Island, winning that first leg was Bob Matthews's J/105 GRYPHON, with Scott Sellers's J/111 NO SURPRISE taking second. On the return, Sellers's NO SURPRISE took second again while Matthews's GRYPHON dropped to fourth place. For the combined results, the J/111 NO SURPRISE lost the tie-breaker to take the silver overall, while the J/105 GRYHPON took the bronze. For more Little Traverse YC Beaver Island Race information, visit https://ltyc.org/.